Most of yesterday I spent scouting the route for GCR2. I'm pretty sure the start will be at the Landmark Diner at the corner of Northern Boulevard (25A) and Port Washington Blvd. There's plenty of parking as the adjoining professional building should be empty on Sunday. I'm going to check it out for breakfast this Sunday at around 7:30 AM to see if I'm right. I'm choosing a restaurant location over a park so everyone can get some food and the indispensable coffee right away. Also, the location is a snap to get to, not just for us natives, but for anyone coming from out of town. We'll be an easy shot from the Throgs Neck Bridge, with exits from the Cross Island Parkway, Northern State Parkway and LIE 495 just a hop away.
Right now, the route takes us through Plandome, Manhasset, and Sands Point, down through Roslyn and back up into Glen Head and Glen Cove before turning to more familiar territory in Mill Neck, Bayville and Oyster Bay.
I had wanted a start going up through Great Neck and into Kings Point, but most of the area is so like Queens, with rows of apartment buildings, and the roads themselves are so dull and gridlike, that the occasional burst of beauty simply got outweighed. Too bad. There are actual villages there that no one has ever heard of, like Thomaston, Saddle Rock and Kensington, and the main drag up through Great Neck Plaza on Middle Neck Road reveals some of the great and beautiful history of the place. Kings Point, after all, is "West Egg" in
The Great Gatsby.
In the end, I had to consider that, steeped in history or not, the place had to be something fun to drive a top-down sports car through, and most of it wasn't, so I opted out. The best run section, through Kings Point and the ritzy houses, is a dead end with a turn-around. So, decision made. We shall begin by examining "East Egg", Sands Point and run like the wind through all the Long Island peninsulas east of there.
Here is a link to the map that will show you the Landmark Diner Start Point.
Landmark Diner
1023 Northern Blvd
Roslyn, NY 11576
(516) 627-4830
(1023 is the listed address for the diner. For some reason, Google Maps gets the street view photo right at #1009. At 1023 they show a car wash.)
Landmark Diner Map
And here is the link to the GCR2 page again:
Gold Coast Run 2
Updates posted to above site, 08/08/08